


There Is Another

by Augustine94



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Actual Asexual Reproduction, Aroace Luke Skywalker, Aromantic Character, Aromantic Luke Skywalker, Asexual Character, Asexual Luke Skywalker, Asexual Rey (Star Wars), Gen, Rey Skywalker, TFA spoilers, ace!luke
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-11
Updated: 2017-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5686162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Augustine94/pseuds/Augustine94
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rey is Luke's daughter, although not in the way you might expect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to azhdarchidaen and brassmama for betaing. Special thanks to larcinneus for betaing and for helping me with the genetics in this fic.

      His child had returned to him.

      She looked older, wearier, and leaner than the last time Luke had seen her. That was to be expected, it had been nearly fifteen years. She had the same spark in her eyes though, and while there was still something blocking her full presence in the Force, he knew this was his Rey.

      He had searched for her, tracking the First Order across the galaxy, but they had disappeared without a trace. Eventually he admitted defeat, and simply walked away from everyone in his grief. He had worked so hard to have her. Her disappearance or possible death, and the destruction of his Jedi Academy had sent him to a very dark place.

      He wished he could stop thinking about that day. He had been offplanet, running a meaningless errand. The scar on his arm where the gene sample had been taken twinged, and then moments later a warning came screaming through the Force. By the time he returned to the Academy it was too late. He searched frantically for any survivors, begging the Force that he would not find his own child’s body among the dead.

      He knew who had done this. It had to have been his nephew. He had tried to help that child, but Ben was deeply troubled, and Luke could never quite discern why. Then one day, he had disappeared. Luke felt Ben’s presence now, it was twisted and sick feeling, but it was him. Ben had been here. Ben had killed all of these people. Luke had failed. He had failed his students, he had failed his nephew, and he had failed his daughter. There was no trace of her besides her training lightsaber left in the mud near the bodies of two of his older students. It looked like they had been trying to help her escape when they were apprehended. There were burns from a lightsaber across their bodies, and Rey’s tiny boot prints were everywhere in the mud. There appeared to have been quite a struggle that abruptly ended as the little prints morphed into two troughs where she had likely been dragged a few meters. The prints disappeared completely then, and a large set of boot prints led back to the landing pad.

      Someone had taken his daughter. She couldn’t be dead; he hadn’t felt her death in the Force, but he couldn’t locate her either. Someone was blocking her presence. Or they might have severed her connection to the Force entirely, he had read of that in some old Jedi documents he had found. The thought of Rey kidnapped and alone, with not even the Force to protect her sickened him. Despair and anger swelled within him, stronger than it had been even aboard the second Death Star. Luke broke down, falling to his knees and crying in the mud. There was nothing he could do to fix this. All of his students were dead, and it was very likely that his daughter would soon join them. This was all his fault. If only he’d done more to help Ben. If only he hadn’t left the academy unprotected. If only… if only he’d done anything else. But he hadn’t, and all of his students had paid the price for his failure.

      Luke did his duty to his students first. He contacted those who had families, each holocall breaking him a little further. Those who had no family he laid to rest himself. That done, he began the search for his daughter. Luke had no real clues on where to look for her, but he couldn’t bring himself to give up yet. He wandered the galaxy aimlessly for months. Eventually he sent R2 back to Leia with a message explaining what had happened. He couldn’t face her himself, not after he had failed her so enormously. His search continued for another year, bearing nothing. That was all he felt now, absolutely nothing. He sent another message to Leia telling her he was going to look for ruins of an early Jedi temple for guidance, and cut himself off from the galaxy.

  
\--------------

  
      Luke had always loved being around kids, but he had never thought much about having them himself. He had known since his early teenage years that romance, and sex for that matter, were not among his interests. Growing up he’d thought he might adopt one day. Tatooine did not have advanced reproductive technology, so the possibility of a child who was genetically his own had never crossed his mind. Things were different in the rest of the galaxy though. It was a delicate and expensive process, but it was possible. It would take him years to save enough credits. Being a Jedi didn’t exactly pay well, but that was alright. It would be years before his Jedi Academy was running well enough for him to consider focusing his time elsewhere anyway. Nearly a decade after Leia and Han had their child, he decided it was time.

      Leia offered to carry the child once it was past the embryonic stage. Luke declined. She had enough problems while carrying Ben. Some had taken her perceived fragile state as a chance to attempt kidnappings and assassinations, he didn’t want to put her through that again. Besides, her relationship with Han had been rocky lately. He didn’t want to add a pregnancy to the list of her problems. Leia was also an entire system away, and he wanted to be near his child while it grew. Going to the Resistance base to be with her for nine months wasn’t an option. The Academy was running smoothly enough that he could think about raising a child, but things weren’t calm enough that he could leave it for that long.

      No, his child was safer growing locked away in a medical facility that no one knew about. If Leia carried the child there would be questions, and holonet buzz, and just more than he wanted to deal with. Being a hero of the Rebellion brought an inane lack of privacy, and his orientation was one thing he had managed to keep out of the spotlight. There were rumors of course, but they were wildly off the mark, and he preferred to keep it that way. It was best for his child to germinate in secret. When the child fully entered the galaxy there would be questions, but it was safer now for their existence to remain unknown.

      A genetic sample was taken from the bone marrow in his arm. He declined the bacta spray that would prevent the incision from scarring. He knew his child would one day walk the galaxy, he wanted to always have some piece of them with him. He had so many scars anyway, one of them might as well be from something he was fond of.

      The bone marrow was then processed, and his genetic material was stripped out and recombined to create a viable embryo. The healer, an old Kaminoan woman, told him of another man who had once wanted a child as he did. This man had simply raised a clone as his son. Luke didn’t want that. He wanted his child to be different from him. He wasn’t even sure he wanted a son. He decided to let the Force, or at least genetics decide.

      In those nine months Luke found it hard to keep his concentration on his duties to the Academy. He slipped away several times a day to check in on his child. He watched it grow from an embryo to a fetus, safely sealed behind glass, and cocooned in a warm bath of fluids. Only his most trusted students at the Academy knew of this, he thought it was safer that way. There had been multiple attempts to kidnap Ben from Leia and Han when he was an infant, those same people would most likely come after his child if they knew it existed.

      Back at the Academy, he often found his thoughts drifting back to this small room. He had taken to pressing his forehead against the glass, and brushing against the child’s mind with the Force. At first there was no response, just a bright presence. Finally after several months, there was the smallest twinge in the Force when he reached out. He was giddy with that small response, and had immediately commed Leia to tell her. She laughed, and began to tell him stories of her interactions through the Force with Ben while he was still in the womb. Luke had heard these stories before, but they were good to hear again, especially now that he had a child of his own.

      Leia asked him if he had any names in mind. He had been thinking about this, but hadn’t really settled on anything. They had a similar conversation once before. When Leia was pregnant, she had asked him permission to use the name Ben for her own child, citing that if he ever planned on having children of his own, she would save that name for him to use. Ben Kenobi had been important to all of their lives, but she knew he meant the most to Luke. At the time he’d gladly agreed with her use of it. He had no desire or plans for a partner or marriage, and it hadn’t really occurred to him yet that he could have a child of his own without that.

      He eventually settled on the name Rey. It was a Tatooinian name meaning beloved, or miracle child. It was often used by couples who had many failed attempts at bearing children. Medical technology on Tatooine was centuries behind more developed parts of the galaxy, and couples who had difficulties had little more than folk medicine to assist them. The traditional methods worked for some, but it was still a miracle when a healthy baby was born to one of these couples. Infertility wasn’t a problem for Luke, that he was aware of anyways, but it still felt like his circumstances were close enough to warrant use of the name.

      He didn’t bother picking another name, he knew the child was a girl. Not only because he could see her forming, but in the last few months their interactions via the Force had become more coherent. Her mind had a distinctly feminine presence.

  
\------------------

      Leia, Han, Chewie, and Ben came to visit when she was born, but only Leia went with Luke to the medcenter to watch her decanting. The fluid was slowly drained from the chamber, and Rey Skywalker was born. She squirmed and cried as the medical droid poked and prodded at her, ensuring she was fully healthy. Satisfied, the droid wrapped her tiny form in a blanket and handed her to Luke.

      Large brown eyes looked up at him, and his heart melted. She was absolutely perfect. Leia hovered by his side, saying something, but he wasn’t really listening. Rey looked up at him, blinking and cooing. Shifting her slightly in his arms, he brought one of his hands down to touch her face. She wrapped her own hand around his pinky finger, still staring at him. He reached out to her with the Force, and her presence rushed forward to meet him, latching on, just as she had to his finger. Looking down at her he didn’t think he had ever been happier.

      Leia stayed for a few weeks helping him acclimate to being a parent. She helped him through many sleepless nights and exhausting days. She helped out at the Academy as well. He hadn’t planned well for taking a paternity leave, but she kept things running smoothly.

      Shortly before she left, Leia gave him the shoulder sling she had used when Ben was an infant to carry him with her as she went about her duties in the Republic government. It worked out very well, and Rey spent much of her infancy nestled by his chest as he went about his business at the Academy. Rey rarely fussed, and when she did, Luke was relived to find that his students were very understanding. His older students quickly picked up his lessons when he needed to leave abruptly to do something for Rey, and they didn’t tease him too badly when she interrupted meditation sessions with a serenade of infant noises.

      Rey grew quickly, and soon moved from being cradled at his chest to toddling along with him through the Academy. She was incredibly outgoing, making friends with everyone she encountered. His students at the Academy were graciously patient with her, and he received many offers for childcare if he needed it.

      A few families lived at the Academy, and it didn’t take long for Rey to realize that most families had two parents. When she asked Luke about it, he explained to her as well as he could that he was her only parent, and that she had come from cells in the bone of his arm. He showed her the scar where the bone marrow was extracted, and she was delighted by this news. She became stuck on this concept for several months, and would tell anyone who would listen that she’d come out of her father’s arm. If he was within reach of her, she would shove up his tunic sleeve to show them too. He found it amusing, and found himself caring less about keeping such matters secret.

      Leia sent Ben to him when Rey was three. Ben hadn’t seen much of his cousin before this, but he seemed to take a liking to her. He was a troubled boy, but he always had a kind word and gentle voice for Rey. Sometimes Luke thought she was doing more good for Ben than he was.

      Rey had been distraught when Ben left. She didn’t understand, and Luke couldn’t really explain to her the conflict that was within Ben. She had never seen his darkness, Ben had always shielded her from that. All she understood was that her cousin, her favorite playmate, had abandoned her, and now everyone at the Academy was whispering about him when they thought she couldn’t hear.

      Luke hoped that Ben’s relationship with Rey had kept him from harming her during his attack on the Academy. If there was still any good within Ben, Luke hoped it was enough to keep Rey safe. In his solitude, some irrational part of him always hoped to find her again. She was lost in a big galaxy, and cut off from their bond in the Force, but he’d always thought that maybe, just maybe they would find each other again someday.

  
\-------------------

      Shaking himself from his memories he looked at the girl before him now, his miracle child. He had missed so much of her life, but here she was, holding his old lightsaber out to him. He smiled.

      “Hello Rey.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all your kind responses to the first chapter! I've decided to make this a trilogy.
> 
> Special thanks to brassmama for betaing.

      “Hello Rey.”

      She startled at the sound of her name. She had not expected the legendary Luke Skywalker to know who she was. Strangely, she somehow felt as if she knew him too. This man whom she had thought was a myth only days ago had a strange familiarity about him that she couldn’t quite place.

      “You should keep the saber. I cannot believe you found it, but it is fitting for you to have.” His mouth turned up slightly into a smile, “It’s been in the family for three generations now.”

      Rey let her arm drop, but she kept the saber clutched in her fist. Something wasn’t adding up. She remembered what Maz had said about this being Luke’s father’s lightsaber before him. That would make two generations, who was the third? She had learned that Kylo was Han and Leia’s son, making him Luke’s nephew. Was that what Luke meant? Had this been Kylo’s blade before Maz acquired it? That didn’t seem right either.

      Luke’s face turned from amusement to concern.

      “You’re confused. Do you not remember?”

      “Remember what?” Rey felt the Force swirling around them, and something was stirring in her mind, but it kept slipping just out of her reach.

      Luke’s expression was mournful again. He stared at her for a moment before finally speaking again.

      “Come with me. We have much to discuss.”

      Luke led her part way back down the hill, turning sharply onto another path that led to a small structure. He ushered her inside wordlessly. Rey remained awkwardly on the threshold burning with questions as Luke busied himself poking at the embers in a small stove. After what seemed like an eternity he turned towards her again, finally noticing that she had remained in the doorway.

      “Sit,” he said, motioning to several cushions on the floor.

      She complied, and a moment later he joined her, positioning himself on the cushion opposite to her. He seemed hesitant, and with every second of silence the turmoil in Rey’s mind was increasing.

      “Your connection to the Force is strong,” he said finally. “You are truly a miracle. It was no small feat for you to have been able to reestablish the connection.” He smiled sadly, “But again, I am getting ahead of myself. I don’t know how to explain this to you. May I show you?”

      “Show me?”

      He nodded.

      “Something is still blocking your memories. I can help,” he said, reaching his flesh hand towards her forehead. “May I?”

      Rey hesitated. It seemed like he was asking to enter her mind with the Force. When Kylo had done so it had been painful. She didn’t want to repeat that, but she felt like she could trust him. She nodded, and felt his presence brush softly against her mind. It felt comforting, the same way Finn’s hand did on her shoulder. Their minds connected, and Rey felt the same stirring of memories as she had before. It was much stronger now, but still just out of reach. Luke’s presence tugged her towards them. She felt suddenly cold, and dizzy too. She swayed, and Luke’s other hand reached out to steady her. Rey squeezed her eyes shut, and her mindscape became visible.

      She was standing before a smooth black cubic structure that was taller than she was, everything else was washed out in a blaze of white light. She sensed someone behind her, and turned to see Luke. He looked different than he had a moment ago. Not necessarily younger, but less worn. He approached her, took her hand, and led her to stand directly in front of the monolith. He placed one hand on the structure, and Rey copied him. She felt him reach out with the Force, pushing against the smooth surface, and she added her own strength. The structure shook violently, then shattered, blowing them both backwards. Rey lost her grip on Luke’s hand and threw her arms up around her head to protect herself. White hot shards of the structure made contact with her skin. She cried out in pain, and everything went black.

 

      Rey opened her eyes. She was very small, and being carried in someone’s arms. She looked up to see a much younger Luke smiling down at her. The image dissolved, reforming in a small, but comfortable room where she sat, still very small, cross legged, across from Luke. She was lifting blocks with the Force to form a tower. Successfully placing the last block, she squealed with delight and jumped into his arms. He stood up, lifting her and spinning around, both of them laughing.

      The memory shifted again, and she was sitting at a table impatiently swinging her legs while he braided her hair. She could hear his voice singing softly to her in a language that she had forgotten she knew. Then she was walking down a corridor clinging to the hem of a dark brown robe. She saw the image of a tunic sleeve pulled back on someone’s forearm revealing a thin scar. The memories began to come too quickly to process. It was incredibly disorienting, but from all of them she felt the same sense of love and happiness. She remembered her family now. Her family was Luke.

      With that realization the flood of memories came to a halt. A new face appeared before her. One with pale skin, dark hair, and ears too big for his face. Her cousin. Ben. She remembered playing with him out under the trees, and sitting in rapt attention as he told her stories about the adventures of her aunt, uncle, and father from when they were young. She remembered riding on his shoulders through the corridors of what she now knew to be the Jedi Academy.

      She also remembered waking up one morning to find the Academy abuzz, and Ben missing. She remembered her father trying to console her, but she just couldn’t believe that her cousin would leave her without as much as a goodbye.

      She remembered her father preparing to leave for what he promised to be a short trip. He carefully wrapped her hair into three buns as she munched on her breakfast. He walked her down the hall to the student’s quarters, leaving her with a Twi’lek and a Rodian girl, and with a hug and a kiss on the top of the head.

      The day passed quietly, and the two girls were getting her ready for bed when an alarm went off. For a moment they froze, staring at each other. Rey looked up at them, fear beginning to trickle into her mind. The Twi’lek girl scooped her up and took off running with the Rodian following close behind. Out in the corridor it was chaos with alarms blaring and students frantically shouting about something. Rey was overwhelmed, and buried her face in the blue girl’s neck, pulling the girl’s lekku around her ears to try and block out the noise.

      With a blast of cold air the noise decreased, and Rey felt rain falling on her back. She peeked out over the lek. They were outside and behind the Academy now, moving towards a small landing pad. A Wookiee student had appeared behind them too. There was the sound of a lightsaber igniting, and the girl carrying her gasped. Rey heard the Rodian girl yell for her friend to run, and the Wookiee howled his agreement. The girl carrying her swore and took off at a run through the mud to the ship ahead. A dark figure emerged in front of them, and the Twi’lek girl skidded to a stop. She dropped Rey to the ground and ignited her lightsaber.

      “Rey, get aboard that ship and tell the autopilot to take off. Get away from here and find your father.” Her voice was measured, but Rey could sense that she was terrified.

      “What about you?”

      “Don’t worry about me, just go. Now!”

      Rey turned and ran as fast as her stubby legs would carry her. She heard the sound of lightsabers clashing behind her, but did not turn to look. She was crying, and she wasn’t entirely sure why. She was scared, yes, but it was something else too. Something had broken in the Force.

      A pair of large hands picked her up, and she screamed. The person holding her was obscured entirely in black clothing and armor, but she could feel his presence in the Force. It was repulsive. She had never felt such darkness. She flailed and sunk her teeth into his hand. He dropped her, and she landed hard on the ground. She reached for the training saber tucked in her tunic only to have it ripped out of her grasp with the Force. She tried to scramble up to run, but slipped in the mud. A warning roared through the Force, and she flung herself to the side just as his weapon came down where she had been only a moment before. He laughed, it was a horrible sound. She felt herself being lifted into the air, and her breath was sucked from her lungs. Lightening lit up the sky, and she could see bodies lying in the mud. She screamed, and the man’s laughter continued.

      “You don’t put up of much of a challenge for being Skywalker’s spawn. The Supreme Leader is right, the Jedi truly are weak.”

      Rey was thrown to the ground again. Her head made hard contact with the ground. Her vision blurred, and her mind went fuzzy.

      A familiar presence broke through the confusion. It was Ben! He felt different, but it was him! He’d come back! He was going to save her! She heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting, and the other sickening presence disappeared. She rolled over slowly, expecting to see her cousin just as she remembered him. The man before her didn’t look like Ben though. He was much taller than she remembered, and his face was hidden behind a mask. Through the Force he felt like Ben… sort of. He approached her, and she remained frozen on the ground, unsure if she should run from him, or jump into his arms. He knelt beside her, placed a hand on her forehead, and everything went black.

 

      She woke up on a ship utterly disoriented. She couldn’t remember how she got there. She couldn’t remember where she had been before. She couldn’t remember anything really. She was missing something. No, not something, someone. Someone very important. A face with a mop of dark blonde hair flashed briefly in her mind, but she couldn’t pull it up again a second later. A moment later, she couldn’t remember why she had felt like it was important at all.

      She felt the ship make contact with solid ground, and the roar of the engines stopped. A young man with dark hair and big ears came to her. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t place why. He called her Rey, and kept apologizing for some reason. He was very upset. She reached for something subconsciously to determine why, but realized she didn’t know what she was looking for.

      He led her off the ship out under a blazing sun and into an ocean of sand. He told her she would be safe here, and that she should never leave. He said he would come back. The promise to return stirred something in her mind, but when she reached for it, it was gone again. He told her to wait, and spent quite some time talking to a strange bulbous creature that Rey was sure she had never seen anything like before. The young man handed something to the strange creature and motioned for Rey to come over. She obeyed, and the bulbous creature grabbed onto her arm and spun her around inspecting her.

      “She’s too little to be useful to me. You need to pay me more.”

      “No, we have a deal already. She will be a hard worker and a skilled mechanic, I promise. She should be a good pilot too.”

      “A pilot? What use do I have for a pilot?”

      The young man looked desperate.

      “Just watch over her until she can take care of herself. I’ve paid you enough to do that.”

      The creature made a disgruntled noise, but nodded.

      “I’ll put her to work cleaning parts until she’s old enough to scavenge for herself.”

      The young man nodded and turned to leave. Rey finally realized what was happening. She was being left here, alone. She didn’t think she knew this man, but she didn’t want him to leave without her. She tried to run after him, but the creature wouldn’t let go of her arm.

      She screamed and cried as she watched the ship take off into the sky, but it didn’t return. She had been abandoned.

 

\------------------------

 

      Rey opened her eyes. She was curled up on the floor, her head resting on the cushion she had initially been sitting on. Her father, Luke Skywalker, sat next to her stroking her hair with a worried look on his face.

      “I’m sorry,” he said, “I didn’t know that would be so violent. I’ve never removed a memory block before.”

      Rey scrunched up her face, thinking. Her memories seemed to have sorted themselves out now. She could pull them up one by one. They were incredibly clear. She could remember things that had happened at the Academy better than she could remember her early days on Jakku. The memory block must have preserved them somehow.

      One detail in particular seemed to stick out, it had been incredibly important to her when she was little. She sat up.

      “You’re my father, and I-” she paused, “I came out of your arm?”

      Luke laughed, and for a moment he seemed decades younger.

      “You still remember that, of all things,” he said, still laughing. He pulled up the sleeve of his tunic to reveal a scar, now much more faded than she remembered. “You are correct, the geneticists took a sample of bone marrow from my arm to get the cells and genetic material they needed to create you.”

      Rey hesitantly reached out to touch the scar.

      “How did I forget all of this?” she murmured.

      Her father’s expression darkened. He looked old again.

      “I don’t know. I had my theories before, and I saw flashes of your memories now. Your cousin took you from the Academy, is that right?”

      Rey nodded slowly.

      “That was Ben who left me on Jakku, Ben is-” she paused. “Ben is Kylo Ren. My cousin Ben is Kylo Ren.” She said those words, but she couldn’t quite believe them. She couldn’t equate the gentle boy from her memories with the monster who had attacked the Academy and left her on Jakku. But it was true. His face on Starkiller Base had been so familiar to her. Had he recognized her too? He must have. It really was him. Kylo Ren was her cousin. Kylo Ren, who had murdered his father, her uncle, Han Solo- was Ben.  
Tears leaked from her eyes, the severity of this finally sinking in.

      “Why?” She asked, looking up at her father.

      “Why did Ben turn? Why did he do all of those horrible things?”

      “Yes.”

      Her father sighed.

      “I don’t know. Snoke had something to do with it. He was watching Ben from a young age, whispering to him through the Force. Leia thought she could protect him, and when she decided that she couldn’t she sent him to me. Evidently I couldn’t protect him either. I’m sorry,” he said, taking her hands in his own. “For everything.”

      Rey squeezed his hands, both metal and flesh.

      “We’re going to fix this,” she said.

      Her father shook his head. “I hope we can still save him, but I don’t know. I know we can’t fix this though. Not entirely. So many people have been killed, so many lives have been destroyed. You spent your childhood working and starving alone in the desert. You can never get that back. We can never get that back. I didn’t get to see you grow up. I-” his voice broke, and he fell silent.

      “We can fix it for other families though,” she promised. He looked at her, eyes full of pain. “We can.”

      Eventually he nodded, and let her hands slip from his own.

      “We should start your training then.”

 

\------------------------

 

      They remained on the island for several weeks, training, meditating and catching up on the past decade and a half they had missed. Her father didn’t want to talk much about himself, but he wanted to know everything about her. She was comfortable sharing, but she didn’t think there was really much to tell. Rey wanted to hear more about his life, but a sadness overtook him whenever she asked. She didn’t remember him suffering from this depression when she was a child. It was becoming clear just how much the loss of her, Ben, and the Academy had truly gutted him.

      Luke and Chewie were reunited. The Wookiee had pulled her father into an embrace and refused to let go for quite some time. It was Artoo who finally broke them apart, beeping incessantly that it was his turn to greet Luke. Rey had vague memories of them both now, and Leia and Han too. She wondered if Han had recognized her. Leia must have, since she was Force sensitive, but she wasn’t sure about Han. Rey learned quickly not to ask Luke about her uncle. He would excitedly start telling her of one of their adventures, but then trail off without even realizing it, most likely lost in his thoughts and guilt that Han was yet another person he could not save.

      There was nowhere for Rey and Chewie to sleep in Luke’s small dwelling, so they all lived out of the Falcon. Her father seemed immensely grateful for the refresher aboard the ship, and spent several hours in it before emerging, looking much cleaner with his hair and beard neatly trimmed.

      He spent a lot of time in the galley as well. When some of her memories that leaked across their bond he had seen what, and how little she had been eating for the past fourteen years. He was not pleased. He spent many hours cooking large meals for her and Chewbacca, though usually not made of the same thing. What Chewie ate was strange, to say the least. He seemed to like it though. Rey liked what her father cooked for the two of them as well. Much of the food brought back flashes of memory from her childhood once she tasted it again.

      Almost better than the food was the water. The island was surrounded by it of course, but that water was salty and undrinkable. There wasn’t any natural source of fresh water on the island, but her father ran a few moisture vaporators behind his dwelling. They had vaporators on Jakku as well, but the water from them here tasted much better. Her father said it was because he had a lot of experience operating them.

      Rey was eating better than she had in years, and growing quite fond of the concept of eating until one were full, rather than eating until you ran out of food for the day. She ate three meals a day now, and could drink as much water as she pleased. She no longer had dizzy spells in the afternoon from hunger and dehydration like she did back on Jakku. She noticed that she was gaining weight. Her arms were becoming more muscular, and her ribs and spine didn’t stick out quite so much.

      Looking back on it, she was unsure how she had survived those first months on Jakku. As a child at the Academy she had wanted for nothing. She was consistently well fed and well loved. Her Jedi training had already begun, but her father made it more like games than actual work. She hadn’t remembered all of that while on Jakku, but she was rather impressed by her younger self’s ability to harden so quickly considering that she had never worked a day in her life before.

      The Jedi training was hard work now, but it was immensely fulfilling. Skills she had learned as a child came back quickly, and she was eager to learn more. Her lessons consisted of more than Jedi training however. She had already known how to read when she was left on Jakku, and she had taught herself quite a bit by reading whatever she could find on old datapads she scavenged before trading them for food. There were a lot of gaps in her knowledge though, so her evenings were spent with her father on the bench seat of the Falcon focused on academic studies.

      Chewie and Artoo spent most of their time working on the Falcon. There were a lot of changes Chewie wanted to make to bring it back to its old glory. She and her father helped sometimes, but it often seemed like Chewie wanted to be alone. Her father said Wookiees had a long mourning process. The two of them got along well, and now she could remember that they had always been good friends.

      Rey wanted to return to the Resistance base and see her friends too, especially Finn. She knew he was in good hands between Poe and the medical staff at the base, but she still worried about him. Her father said they would return soon, but it had already been weeks. She briefly pressed the issue before realizing that it wasn’t her training that was holding them up, it was that her father still needed more time.

      Living alone all these years had not been kind to him, especially not on top of whatever else it was he was coping with. There was a sadness about him, and some days it seemed to overtake him. They didn’t train those days, he would apologize, and spend most of the day in meditation. Rey wasn’t quite sure how to help him, so she just sat with him. Those days were growing further apart though. It seemed like her companionship, as well as the presence of Chewie and Artoo was helping. He was still struggling, but he was no longer in complete isolation. As the weeks passed, he was becoming more like the person she remembered from her childhood. She was content to wait with him on this island for as long as he needed before returning to face everyone at the Resistance base. As much as she wanted to get back to her friends, she was no stranger to waiting. She had waited on Jakku for years for her family. Now she that she had found him, she was willing to wait just a little longer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, thank you to everyone who reviewed or left kudos on the first chapter. I'm glad you liked it.
> 
> A chapter from Leia's perspective is next!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to azhdarchidaen and brassmama for betaing.

      Leia watched the Millennium Falcon touch down on the landing pad, and wasn’t quite sure how she felt. Sadness, definitely. Han’s death had left a gaping hole in the Force that she wasn’t sure she would ever recover from, and the Falcon would always be a foremost reminder of him.

      But she had hope too. She was going to see her brother again for the first time in well over a decade. She had missed him terribly. She knew he was hurting, and she knew he was probably blaming himself for what happened with Ben. He shouldn’t. Snoke was to blame. Leia had done her best, and she knew Luke had done his best as well. Neither of them were strong enough to protect Ben from Snoke on their own, and they had been foolish to try. They had learned long ago that they worked best together. And now, with Luke’s daughter returned to him, hopefully the three of them would be able to save her son.

      It had been incredibly difficult not to tell Rey, but Leia knew she shouldn’t. She wasn’t even sure she would have been able to. Rey obviously had no memories of her childhood with Luke, and Leia wasn’t sure she had the training to be able to remove that kind of memory block by herself. Besides, she should hear the truth from her father.

      The ramp on the Falcon descended, and Chewbacca and Artoo disembarked. They both greeted her warmly, and then went their separate ways, no doubt giving her space to reunite with her brother and niece.

      She could sense both of them inside the Falcon. Rey was brimming with impatience, and Luke, well, Luke’s presence felt a lot different than it had the last time she saw him. Depression, anxiety, and guilt all clouded his presence now. He was a far cry from the idealistic and genuinely content man she had known some fourteen years ago.

      Two pairs of boots appeared at the top of the ramp. They descended, and her brother and niece came into view. Rey looked stronger and healthier than she had a month ago when she departed. Her presence in the Force was clearer. Whatever had been blocking her memories had been removed. She buzzed around her father as he slowly descended the ramp, looking rather uncertain of what to do.

      Rey was fine, but Luke, oh Luke. The years had not been kind to her brother. He looked worn, and older than he should be. His face was lined, showing over a decade of worry and stress. She could feel turmoil within him, but he smiled at the sight of her. They both quickened their pace and collided in an embrace. They had been apart for far too long. At this point, nearly as much of their lives had been spent separated as they had been spent together. It wasn’t right. They had lost so much time.

      No more, she promised herself. She had lost all four of her parents, her husband, and for the time being, her son to the Dark Side. Luke and Rey were all she had left, and she refused to ever lose them again. Her family was strange, broken, and anything but nuclear, but she loved them.

      Leia loosened her grip on her brother, and turned to embrace her niece. She wrapped an arm around each of them and guided them into the base.

  


\------------------------

 

      Leia heard a muffled thump, and the sound of a baby crying from the adjoining room. She reached out with the Force and sensed her brother very groggily moving about his kitchen. Rey was just past two weeks old now, and Leia remembered just how much Ben had kept her and Han up at that age. She couldn’t imagine how Luke was doing this alone. He hadn’t asked her for help with nighttime feedings, but helping with newborn Rey was what she had come to the Academy for. It was time to go rescue her brother.

      Leia dragged herself out of bed and padded down the hall to her brother’s room. She slipped into his quarters unnoticed. His hands were quite literally full, with Rey cradled in one arm and preparing formula for her with the other. He actually wasn’t doing that poorly by himself, but Leia could see the exhaustion on his face. He needed a full night’s sleep.

      He turned to her, finally noticing her presence.

      “Sorry,” he said, “did I wake you?”

      “Not you, her,” Leia stepped forward and removed the wailing bundle from her brother’s arms.

      “She’s just hungry.”

      “I know. She’s an infant. She’ll be hungry all night for a few more months. Why don’t you get some sleep and let me take care of her for tonight?”

      Luke paused. Leia could see he was thinking about it.

      “Have you gotten a full night’s sleep since you brought her home?” Leia asked.

      Luke groaned, rubbing at his temples.

      “I’m taking that as a no,” Leia said, smirking. “Go get some sleep. I’ll bring her back once she’s fed and quieted down.”

      “You’re the best, Leia.”

      “Don’t you forget it.”

      Luke was evidently too tired to come up with any kind of snappy response. He fussed over Rey for a minute before turning and trudging back down the hall to his bedroom. Leia took over his position at the heating element and finished making Rey’s formula. Rey was still wailing, now upset not only by hunger, but also by the audacity of her father to walk away from her while she was crying. Leia poured the formula into a bottle and helped Rey hold on to it. Rey sucked greedily on the bottle, her eyes never leaving Leia’s face. Leia felt Rey probing her experimentally with the Force, and allowed the infant to satisfy her curiosity. Leia rocked her niece, humming softly.

      “You’re not used to anyone but Luke feeding you, are you?” She murmured. “You need to let your father get some sleep though. Han and I would trade off feeding your cousin, I don’t know how your father does this by himself.” She laughed. “Stubbornness probably, and I’m guessing you’re going to be plenty stubborn too. The Force isn’t the only thing that is strong in this family.”

      Rey screwed up her face, as if in agreement. Leia laughed again.

      “I’m glad he had you. He’s so altruistic, he rarely does anything just for himself. Having you is probably the most selfish thing he’s done in years. He deserves it. He loves so intensely, and he gives and he gives and he gives. I don’t know how he does it, it seems exhausting. Not that you aren’t exhausting him too,” Leia chided, poking at Rey’s belly, “But by the Force does he love you. Very few go to the lengths he did to have a child, especially not while trying to restart the Jedi Order. I’ve never seen him happier than when the med droid handed you to him.”

      Rey continued slurping at her bottle, but her eyes never left Leia’s. She did seem to be listening. Leia smiled down at her niece. Holding her brought back so many memories of when Ben had been this small. Ten years separated her son from her niece, but she hoped they would be close. Ben had seemed to take a liking to her while he had been here along with Han and Chewie. He was ever so careful when Luke let him hold her. Leia smiled down at Rey again, thinking of the years they would spend together. Leia had lost her family on Alderaan, and now some fifteen years later she had a family again. She had a brother, a husband, and a son. There was also Chewie, who was some type of in-law, Lando, who was also like some type of in-law, a couple of droids, and now a niece. She still missed her parents terribly. She missed all of Alderaan, but she had finally found peace. Fifteen years ago at the Battle of Yavin she would have never dreamed this day would come, and yet here she was. Here they all were. That in itself was miraculous. The war had been won. Peace had been restored. She didn’t want to become complacent, but at the moment it looked like the worst was over. Her family was safe and at peace.

      Rey had enough of her bottle, and had fallen back asleep. Not for long though, Leia knew. Not at this age. If Luke was really going to get any sleep tonight she should just take Rey back to her own room. Mind made up, she rose as gently as she could so as not to wake Rey. If her brother was still awake Leia would let him know what she was doing. She moved through the narrow hall to his room and poked her head through the door, Rey held to her chest. Luke was sprawled across his bed, already deep in sleep. Leia chuckled softly. She knew that exhaustion all too well. Again she marveled at how he had been doing this all alone for the past two weeks. Occasionally she and Han had even had Chewie help with Ben.

      Rey started to stir, probably sensing the closer proximity to her father. Leia reached into the Force herself and sent calmness and a suggestion to go back to sleep to Rey. Rey responded through the Force in that strange way that infants did, less coherent but somehow more direct, and promptly fell back asleep. Potential crying fit averted, Leia headed back into the kitchen to pick up some more of Rey’s formula before heading back to her own room. She knew she was going to get very little sleep that night, but there had been far worse things to keep her up at night in years past. Staying up to take care of one’s niece was a definite improvement.

  


\------------------------

 

      “Aunt Leia?” Rey asked hesitantly.

      “Hmm?” They were supposed to be having an etiquette lesson. Someone needed to teach this still somewhat feral child proper manners, but Leia had a feeling that her lesson plans were about to be derailed.

      “I’ve been wondering, it never really struck me as odd before, but Poe said something at lunch today that made me realize…” Rey’s voice trailed off. Leia turned to regard her niece.

      “Yes?” She prodded.

      Rey took a breath.

      “Why did my father clone me? That’s not how most people reproduce. I was wondering…” Rey’s voice trailed off somewhat awkwardly.

      Leia hadn’t been expecting that question. She had assumed that Luke had explained why she had come about in the manner that she had when he explained how it had happened. Evidently not.

      “I think that’s a better question for him, don’t you?”

      “He doesn’t like to talk about the past. I wasn’t sure if,” Rey paused, “If something had happened, or if-”

      Leia snorted. “I assure you, his reasons for having you in the manner that he did are as much present as past. Those things usually don’t change. He won’t have a problem with you asking.”

      Rey looked puzzled. “So it’s nothing bad?”

      “Absolutely not. Go,” she said, waving Rey off. “I can tell you won’t be focusing on anything else until you talk to him.”

      Rey all but bounded out of the room, and Leia smirked. She poked at Luke through the Force. Kid incoming. Get ready. His response was quizzical, and she smiled a little wider.

  


      Three hours later Luke appeared at the door of her office and plopped down in the chair opposite her desk.

      “For the record, Lando won the bet,” he said, without preamble.

      “What bet?” Leia’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

      Luke hesitated. “Lando and Han had a bet about Rey. Lando thought that even though my genes got rearranged, she was still enough of my duplicate that she would also be asexual. Han disagreed. He said that since physical things like her hair and eyes were different than mine, things like sexual orientation might be different too.”

      Leia felt a twinge of annoyance at her husband, which was quickly replaced by sadness. She and Luke had agreed to not avoid talking about Han, but whenever he did come up in their conversations she missed him even more.

      “And that sort of bet didn’t bother you?” She asked.

      Luke shrugged. “A bit. But Han would bet on anything.”

      Leia sighed. That was very unfortunately true.

      “Anyways,” Luke continued, “Rey just came to talk to me. She was asking about why I had her in the manner that I did. I hadn’t explained the particulars to her before. I hadn’t felt the need to explain my sexual orientation to my three year old.”

      Leia laughed. “I suppose not.”

      “So we talked about it, and she feels that she’s the same way. She’d never really had the opportunity to question it before. She was rather occupied with other things on Jakku.”

      Leia noted a tone of anger in his voice in the last sentence. He was understandably distressed by where, and how Rey had been forced to spend the latter part of her childhood, and most of her teenage years. She was upset too. Her kriffer of a child was responsible for it. Leia felt a wave of emotion boiling up inside of her. She pushed it back down.

      “Well, I suppose it’s lucky for you that she is. I would have loved to watch you try and give her the safe sex talk.”

      Luke shook his head, laughing a little. “No, I would have sent her to someone with actual experience. You’d be in charge of that.”

      Leia smiled. “I suppose that’s fair.”

 

\------------------------

 

      Leia awoke with a start, and took a moment to register where she was. She was in one of the communal, yet somewhat private sitting areas on the Resistance Base. Across from her, seated on an overstuffed couch were her brother and niece, still asleep. The three of them had been talking late in the evening, and apparently had fallen asleep where they sat. Rey had been first. Warmly tucked under Luke’s arm, and with a full belly from dinner she fell asleep only about an hour into their conversation. Her head rested against his chest, and Leia was struck by how similar her position was now to how it had been when she was an infant and he carried her around swathed to his chest.

      Leia could sense the quiet contentment from the both of them, and was briefly hit by a pang of longing to be with her own child. She hadn’t seen Ben in years, much less touched him. She wasn’t sure if she could remember the last time she hugged him.

      Not that a hug should be her first response to him now. The feeling of longing was replaced by guilt. Her son had done unspeakable things, was it wrong of her to still want to hold him?

      It was Ben that she wanted to hold, not the monster that he had become. She wanted to hold the scared little boy that she’d sent to train with Luke, not the wannabe Sith who had maimed and tortured so many, and killed even more. _Oh Ben, what have you done?_

      Her distress woke Luke. He shifted slightly, making sure not to wake Rey, and paused to cover her more with his cloak. That done, he looked up at Leia and met her eyes with a look of concern on his face. In that often infuriating way of his, he knew exactly what she had been thinking about.

      “Don’t blame yourself Leia. You weren’t there. I was the one who missed all the signs.”

      “No,” her voice was hoarse, “It’s not your fault either. I should have gone with him. Maybe together we could have protected him.”

      Luke sighed, looking away and rubbing at his forehead.

      “I’ve spent the past fourteen years wondering about what I could have done differently. Now that I’ve rejoined the rest of the galaxy, I’m wishing that I’d spent that time doing something a bit more practical.” His gaze returned to hers. “Let’s not waste any more time on what we could have done, and instead figure out what we’re going to do.”

      Leia felt the corners of her mouth twitch into a smile.

      “You’re back to your old Jedi wisdom. Are you feeling better?”

      Luke returned her smile, but there was still something sad about it.

      “A bit. Not being alone anymore has helped. I never should have left.”

      “I’m glad you came back. I missed you.”

      “I know,” he said, “I’m sorry.”

      “Don’t be.” They looked at each other for a moment. Leia sighed. “Those few years of peace that we had. Do you think they were our last?”

      “I hope not.”

      “Things were going so well. We were building a better galaxy for our children.”

      “Leia,” Luke began quietly.

      “I know,” she sighed. “Let’s worry about the future, not the past.”

      “You know this isn’t our fight anymore. The best thing we can do now is make sure that these kids are better prepared than we were.”

      Leia shook her head. “They’ve already been through worse than we had at that age.”

      Luke looked solemn. “Then we can do our best to make sure they have more support than we did.”

      “I suppose,” said Leia. “They remind me so much of us back in the day. They’re so impulsive. They never show signs of the war getting to them, and I know how much that will hurt them down the road.”

      Luke looked away, most likely thinking about the past pains that he had buried for too long. Eventually, he spoke again.

      “I never thought we’d be in another war. When I decided to have Rey I thought the galaxy was safe, or at least as safe as it would ever be. I didn’t think the Dark Side would return so quickly. The Jedi Order kept the peace for a thousand generations in the Old Republic. I thought the next generation of Jedi I was training could do the same. Instead I just lead them to their slaughter.” Luke’s voice was bitter again, and his distress was beginning to wake Rey. She stirred, and Luke and Leia’s eyes locked, silently deciding to finish this conversation later. Rey needed to talk about the night that her cousin had come and murdered the other students at the Academy, but so far she’d shown no signs of being ready to do that.

      Rey awoke fully and stretched. “What’d I miss?” She asked, while yawning.

      “All of us falling asleep,” Leia replied, forcing humor into her voice. “We should go back to our quarters and get some real rest.”

      “She’s right,” Luke added. “Training begins at dawn tomorrow.”

      Rey groaned, and heaved herself off the couch and moved towards the door. Luke followed, and Leia brought up the rear. A twinge of anxiety passed through Leia as the three of them went their separate ways to their quarters. She was fairly confident that the two of them would be there the next morning, but after years of separation a part of her never wanted to let them out of her sight again.

      It would be many years before her family was safe again. Leia tried not to spend too much of her time thinking about it, but she longed for the day when her family could be together and at peace. Han was gone forever, but she couldn’t fully lose hope for Ben’s return. If she closed her eyes she could see a future for all of them, Luke, Rey and Ben at peace, and finally restarting the Jedi Order. The honorary members of the family like Chewie and Lando were with her too, along with some of the younger resistance members that she had essentially adopted, Poe Dameron, and now Finn as well.

      Luke had once told her something Yoda had said to him, something about the future always being in motion. If that were true, maybe the future she dreamed of could come to reality.

      Perhaps.

      If the Force was with them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the release of _Bloodline_ and _Aftermath: Life Debt_ , the timeline for this is not exactly canonical anymore. I started this fic in January, and I've decided to keep with the timeline as we knew it then rather than trying to change things now.
> 
> At one point I said this would be three chapters, but I keep having more ideas so there will very likely be more. The next chapter will involve Finn and Poe (finally!). Reviews are greatly appreciated and definitely increase my motivation to write. <3


	4. Chapter 4

      It had been well over a month since her arrival on Ach-To that her father was finally ready to leave. He had announced this casually, and Rey had to employ all of her self-restraint to not be visibly delighted by this news. She cared deeply about her father, and didn’t want to rush his return to the rest of the galaxy, but it had been a very long time since she’d had any contact with the rest of the Resistance and she needed to know if Finn was alright. 

      Now she was incredibly close, and her father had stalled out again. Chewie had needed a few days to encrypt the message back to the Resistance requesting their new location, and it had taken a few more days to receive their response, which was simply a set of coordinates and magnetic field reading for where the base was located on the new planet. They had landed at the location they were instructed too, but her father was staring at the door unable to continue the final step of their journey. She could feel his anxiety through the Force, and while she could understand where it was coming from, she also knew it to be misplaced. While undoubtedly a few people would blame him for her cousin’s fall and the resulting disasters, and many more would unsubtlety try to figure out every gory detail of what had gone wrong, the majority of people would give him his space. She hadn’t spent all that much time at the Resistance base, but most everyone she had encountered had been kind and understanding. 

      Chewie was anxious to leave the Falcon for some reason, and eventually he brushed past the two of them, with Artoo following close behind, chittering away. This seemed to shake her father out of whatever he was thinking about, and he followed them shortly after. She hovered around him, quite unsure as to what they would find outside the Falcon. 

      Her aunt stood at the bottom of the landing ramp, and Rey could see the difference in her father as soon as he caught sight of his sister. The two closed the distance between them quickly, and collided in a hug. Rey hung slightly to the side rather awkwardly until Leia released her brother and reached out to pull her into a hug as well. With one arm around her, and the other around her father, Leia guided them both into the base. Rey was happy to see her aunt again, and she was relieved at how easily her father and aunt slipped back into their comfortable companionship. All she really wanted though was to go find Finn. 

      Rey slipped away at the first opportunity and had someone point her to the medical ward. She felt her heartbeat increase as she made her way there. Finn was going to be alright. He had to be. His injury was gruesome, and on Jakku he most likely would not have survived, but this was different. This was the Resistance. They had good doctors and he would be okay. He had to be. 

      She rounded a corner and nearly collided with Doctor Kalonia. 

      “Rey,” Kalonia said, surprised, “I’m guessing you didn’t come to medical for your next round of inoculations.” 

      Rey grimaced. She had fifteen years of vaccinations to catch up on, and while it was necessary, it certainly wasn’t fun. 

      “Not yet. I’m looking for Finn.” 

      Doctor Kalonia nodded, and waved Rey another hallway. 

      “I’m sure he’ll be looking for you soon as well. Word of your arrival traveled quickly. He’s in the back working on some physical therapy. You’re on his requested visitors list, so you can go right in.” 

      Rey all but ran through the doors marked “rehabilitation,” but stopped short when she saw Finn. While she couldn’t say he looked well, he was alive, and he was standing. A medical droid was guiding him, and his pilot friend that she’d met briefly before, Pao or Poe, or something like that was with him too, spotting Finn as he took shaky steps. All three turned at the sound of her footsteps, and Finn’s entire face lit up in a grin. 

      “Rey! You’re back!” He stepped forward excitedly, and his grin rapidly turned to a grimace as he felt the effects of his injury. The medical droid made distressed noises and rebuked him to move more slowly. 

      “Alright, alright,” Finn placated the droid. “I’ll be more careful, I’m just surprised to see my friend.” 

      Rey felt a little swell of happiness that Finn called her his friend. It was probably stupid to be so happy about that, but he meant so much to her and it had been a long time since she’d had friends. 

      The medical droid rolled off, grumbling about coming back when Finn wasn’t distracted, and Rey closed the distance between them. She held open her arms questioningly, unsure if she could hug Finn without hurting him. 

      Finn understood her silent question. He nodded and stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her. 

      “Just be careful with my spine. I’ve got a lot of bacta patches on it still.” He murmured into her shoulder. 

      Rey was very careful not to disturb the mess of bandages on his back. It looked bad, but he as alive and he was standing and walking, and she felt it necessary to thank the Force for that miracle. She stuck her face into his shoulder as well, closing her eyes and appreciating his warmth. He was alive. He was going to be okay. She reached out with the Force, consciously feeling his presence in it for the first time. It was warm, steadfast, and had just a hint of his humor. She smiled, and continued to reach out with the Force to examine the rest of their surroundings and found- Finn’s friend. She’d completely forgotten about him, which was probably very rude. Rey opened her eyes and pulled away from Finn. Finn’s friend moved a chair into place for Finn to sit in. He gratefully took advantage of it and looked between the two of them. 

      “Poe says you briefly met already?” Finn asked. 

      “Yes,” Rey nodded. 

      “Small galaxy,” Poe said, smiling. “Or small Resistance I guess.” He held out his hand. “Hello again Rey.” 

      Rey smiled back and shook his hand. She decided that she liked him. 

  
\--------------

  
      The news of her and Luke’s return had spread quickly through the Resistance base and everywhere she went there were whispers and people pretending that they weren’t staring at her. She’d heard a lot of murmurs about “Skywalker” as she passed. After so many years of anonymity, suddenly being the subject of so much gossip was wearing on her. 

      Entering the mess hall for breakfast, Rey faced a sea of staring eyes. Blushing, she grabbed her food as quickly as possible and headed to where she saw Poe and Finn already eating. Finn and Poe wouldn’t stare and gape at her… she hoped. 

      She plopped her tray down and slid into the seat. 

      “Rey,” Poe hissed, leaning forward, “People are saying that you’re Luke Skywalker’s daughter?” 

      “Oh. Yeah, I am.” Rey shifted awkwardly at the table. So much for not being treated differently because of this. 

      “But,” Poe sputtered, “How? I mean everyone knew he-” Poe stopped, and blushed slightly. 

      “He what?” 

      “Nevermind, it’s not important.” 

      “It is important.” Rey was growing irritated. “Everyone seems so surprised by my existence. I didn’t know I was a secret. Everyone at the Jedi Academy knew who I was.” Rey paused, realizing that everyone at the Academy was dead. A few weeks after her memory had been restored, memories from her early childhood had started getting a little fuzzy and jumbled. 

      “But,” Poe hesitated, “Who’s your mom?” 

      “Oh.” Was that what all the confusion was about? “I don’t have one.” 

      Poe looked confused. 

      “He cloned me,” Rey said bluntly, “Out of a bone in his arm.” 

      Poe looked stunned for a second, then he laughed. Rey wasn’t sure why that was funny. Again she looked to Finn. His mouth was hanging open. Poe continued laughing, far more than Rey thought was reasonable. 

      “So he literally- I mean, that makes more sense, but-” 

      Finn cut Poe off. “Does the First Order know about this?” 

      Poe’s face fell mid laugh. 

      “Kylo does,” she replied hesitantly, “We were kids together at the Academy. He-” She felt a lump rise in her throat, awash in old memories. 

      “My gods,” Poe blurted, “That makes him your cousin!” 

      Finn kicked at Poe under the table and made a shushing noise. 

      “Yes,” she said quietly, looking down at the floor. She felt her father’s presence approaching and looked up to see him making his way to where the three of them were sitting. Poe and Finn turned to see what she was looking at and both looked a little star struck. Rey grimaced. This is not what she wanted. 

      Her father sat beside her, nodded hello to Finn and Poe across from him, and began to eat. Poe was staring. Damn it. Finn was trying to be nonchalant and had returned to his food. 

      Luke either hadn’t noticed Poe staring, or was very effectively pretending not to care. 

      “Today is your birthday. You’re 20 standard now.” He announced casually. 

      “Oh?” Rey was genuinely surprised. She hadn’t kept track of her birthday on Jakku, only the days she’d been there. She hadn’t even started doing that right away. 

      “Is it still called a birthday if you’re taken out of a tank rather than birthed?” Finn asked, mouth only partially full of food. Rey heard Poe kick Finn under the table. 

      “Ow, what?” 

      “That’s rude!” 

      “I’m genuinely curious! Besides, it’s not like I’m much better off. I don’t know when my birthday is.” 

      Rey put her head down on the table. This conversation was not going to get any less awkward. Poe had now ceased starting at her father and was now looking horrified at Finn. She and Finn kept accidentally disturbing Poe with casual things they’d grown up taking as facts of life. Whoops. 

      “You can always pick a day,” Luke said. 

      “Hmm, maybe. What about the day I met both of you? That was a good day. We stole a TIE Fighter, Poe named me, Rey very rudely hit me with a stick.” Finn said with a grin. 

      “You hit him with a stick?” Her father asked. 

      Rey raised her head back up off the table. “That’s not my fault! BB-8 told me you stole Poe’s jacket!” 

      “I didn’t though! I thought Poe was dead. Then he gave it to me. Right Poe?” 

      Poe had been looking a little dazed. 

      “Sorry, what?” He said, “You’ve hit me with a lot of stuff this morning. Rey is Luke’s bone marrow baby, and Finn doesn’t know his birthday. Did I miss something else?” 

      “Not really,” Luke said, amused, “Welcome to being directly involved with Skywalker business.” He took another bite of his breakfast, still smiling like he thought all of this was hilarious. 

      “Don’t worry, I’m used to this sort of chaos with the General. I just need a minute to process.” 

      Luke smiled at him. “I’ve heard you’ve taken after your mother,” he continued, “I’m sure she’d be very proud.” 

      “Wait,” Rey interrupted, “You know Poe’s mom?” 

      “Yes, my parents were good friends of his,” Poe said a little defensively, “Which is why I was surprised that he had a kid no one knew about.” 

      Luke shrugged. “I didn’t really want to deal with people’s questions.” 

      “That’s… fair,” Poe conceded, “considering the circumstances.” 

      “Exactly,” Luke responded and went back to his food. 

      A sly look came across Poe’s face. “Who else knows this already? I might be able to cash in on some of the betting pools about who Rey’s mom is.” 

      “Betting pools?” Rey exclaimed, shooting an outraged look to her father. Luke only shook his head, smirking a little. 

      “Let’s keep them guessing a little longer,” he said, “I’m curious to see who they’ll come up with.” 

  


      Rey had intended to follow Finn back to the medical ward to help him with his physical therapy after breakfast, but her father pulled her aside, asking her to follow him to his room. It wasn’t their usual training time, but her father didn’t always follow a schedule. 

      Entering his quarters he motioned for her to sit down and brought over two bundles of cloth. 

      “The Jedi of the Old Republic had traditions around particular birthdays,” Luke explained. “While we missed the one this was supposed to go on, and technically you’re supposed to have found it yourself, that’s become a bit difficult in the past few years so-” he broke off. “I’m rambling. Here.” 

      He handed Rey the smaller piece of cloth and she unrolled it to reveal a small crystal point. She’d studied enough of the Jedi texts Luke had found on Ach-To to know what this was. Kyber. 

      “While it is the family lightsaber you’ve been using, I thought you might like to build one of your own. I was thinking we could take a trip into the mountains next week to do that. That’ll give you some time to come up with designs and gather materials.” 

      Rey’s heart swelled in her chest. “That would be fantastic! I’ll go ask Artoo to show me examples of other designs now.” She started to rise from her seat but her father motioned her back down. 

      “One more thing. This isn’t so much as a gift as returning what was already yours.” 

      He handed her the second bundle. She unrolled it to find a soft doll of a Rebel X-Wing pilot. The details were intricate down to the piping on the flak vest and designs on the helmet. It sparked a memory. This had been hers at the Jedi Academy! 

      “Rogue Squadron gave you that when you were born. It was your favorite toy when you were small. That night at the ruins of the Academy,” Luke’s voice grew hoarse, “I found it in our room. I thought it was all I had left of you. I took it with me. You’re a little old for it now, but I thought you should have it back.” 

      Rey launched herself forward, closing the gap between where she and her father were sitting and pulling him into a hug. He held her tightly and she knew he was reliving that night when he thought he had lost her. She tightened her grip around him too. 

      “It’s okay. I’m safe. We won’t lose each other again.” 

      Her father let out a deep breath. “I missed so much of your life.” 

      Rey pulled back, not knowing what to say. 

      “It’s funny,” she said finally, “I sort of remembered this doll on Jakku. I made one like it out of scrap. Not this detailed of course, but I meant it to be an X-Wing pilot. I wonder what has happened to it…” 

      “Do you ever want to go back to Jakku Rey?” 

      “I think so. I want to help the other scavengers there. Some day when all of this is over.” 

      Her father nodded. “I would be with you this time. I’d like to take you to Tatooine too someday. The Homestead where I grew up burned, but there are other parts of the area I’d like to show you. We could go to where my father grew up too. I was there once, but it was very brief. There’s also Naboo, that’s where your grandmother is from. It’s beautiful there. You’ll love the waterfalls.” He smiled at her. “We’re getting ahead of ourselves, but it’s nice to think about.” 

      “It is nice. I’d like that.” 

      “We’ll do it then. Someday.” 

  
\--------------

  
      Rey still hadn’t gotten over how wonderful the abundance of water on the Resistance Base was. Having finished her daily training session with her father she was able to go to the locker room and stand under steaming jets of water for as long as she liked. There had been nothing like that on Jakku. She remembered showers, and baths for that matter, from her childhood, but this was so much better. 

      Jessika had given her a hair product that she said would make her hair more manageable so she wouldn’t have to wear it up all the time. What Jessika hadn’t told her was how amazing it smelled, and that the smell would stay in her hair even after she’d rinsed the bubbles out. Rey had dressed and was brushing her hair out. While she felt rather foolish for it, she kept smelling her hair, entertained by the novelty of it. It smelled like the wildflowers that grew over the hill from the base. Poe liked to take her and Finn there to lay in the sun and talk when they had a free afternoon. 

      Someone else entered the locker room, and Rey blushed as they looked at her rather judgmentally, probably because she was smelling her own hair. Rey flashed a sheepish grin and went back to brushing her hair. 

      The other being was of a species she didn’t recognize. Rey tried to casually memorize identifying features so she could describe them to Poe at dinner. He’d probably know what the species was, and Rey would much rather satisfy her curiosity that way rather than rudely asking ‘What are you?’ 

      “It does not hide the scent.” The other being said in a droning voice, interrupting Rey’s thoughts. 

      “What?” 

      “That,” they said, pointing to the bottle Jessika had given her, “Does not hide the truth. My kind can smell the bloodlines from parents to young. Skywalker is not your father. You are his clone.” 

      “Oh,” Rey said, rather surprised that someone could know that from smelling her. “Yes, I know. He’s still my father though.” 

      “It isn’t natural!” Their voice rose, and pitched up. “You smell only of Skywalker and the chemicals in which you were grown! You have no mother! Life should not be forced into existence like that. It is wrong! An abomination in the Force!” 

      Rey wasn’t sure how to respond. She just stared, open mouthed. Is this why her father hadn’t tried to stop any of the rumors about who her mother must be? Was this how others would see her if they knew? 

      The other being breathed deeply. “You may be able to trick the other humans, but those like me will always know that you are nothing but a false shell. Skywalker put his trust in technology rather than the Force. Like his father, who became a monstrosity of robotics, he created you, a monstrosity of bioengineering. Your scent is sickening.” The being gathered their things to leave. “I will wash elsewhere. As for you, you had better hope that those who built you did so without error. Your life depends on it. Clones always have mistakes, no being can create life as perfectly as the Force does.” 

      Rey watched, frozen in place as they stalked out of the room. She stood for another moment, and then sank down onto the bench. Was this really what beings would think of her and her father if they knew? 

      Poe hadn’t. And neither had Finn. Finn wasn’t a great judge of what was normal though, and Poe’s parents had been close to her father. What if it was just out of loyalty to them that he didn’t show he was repulsed by her? 

      A lump had risen in her throat. And what if they had been right about there being flaws in her genetics? What if she just collapsed one day during a fight when people’s lives were counting on her? Rey bent over her knees, squeezing her eyes shut. 

      “Rey? Are you alright?” 

      It was Jessika, standing in the doorway. Rey hadn’t noticed her approaching. 

      “I’m fine.” She lied. 

      “No you’re not. What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Sick?” Jessika hesitantly came closer to her. 

      “No, it’s- it’s not important.” 

      “It looks like it’s important to you. What happened?” 

      Rey took a breath. Jessika might be a good person to tell, she had no prior connection to her father that would sway her opinion, but she also was a good friend of Poe’s. If it went poorly maybe Poe could convince her to not spread it around the base. 

      “Luke- I’m- Luke isn’t my father in the normal sense. He cloned me. I’m his clone.” 

      “Oh,” Jessika paused a moment. “Well that certainly makes more sense than what some people have been saying.” 

      “You- you’re okay with that?” 

      Jessika shrugged. “Why not? It’s a big galaxy. It was pretty well known in the Rebellion that Luke wasn’t interested in a romantic relationship with anyone, so him cloning a kid seems pretty smart.” Her eyes softened and she smiled. “It’s sweet actually. He must have really wanted you.” 

      “So you don’t think I’m some sort of- abomination?” 

      Jessika’s eyes narrowed. “Have you been talking to Sama?” 

      “Who?” 

      “Someone about your height, light colored short fur, big nostrils, small eyes?” 

      “Yes, they were in here earlier. How did you know?” 

      Jessika sighed. “Because she thinks any technology that didn’t have an equivalent on her homeworld is an abomination. She’s had a rough life. The Empire nearly wiped her people out, now the First Order is trying to finish the job. She’s usually pretty harmless, but it’s not okay for her to be coming after you like that.” 

      “Oh,” was all Rey could say. As rude as Sama had been, and while she by no means liked her, she still felt a little bad for her. 

      “Come here,” Jessika said, crossing the bench to stand in front of Rey, she held out her hands, offering Rey help up off the bench. Rey accepted, and the other girl pulled her into a hug. After a moment, Jessika pulled away but kept Rey’s hands clasped in her own. 

      “Now,” she said, looking Rey in the eye, “You don’t need to worry what people on this base will think of your family. Overall we’re a pretty diverse group. Few to none will agree with Sama, and if anyone does, they’ll have to keep their mouths shut. Your family is the stuff of legends and royalty, and besides that, you have rights as a clone. We operate under the laws of the New Republic, and one of the first things the New Republic Senate did was to give organic beings of artificial origin the same inalienable rights as all other sentients. It was supposed to prevent the use of clones in future wars, but it extends to cases like you too. I’ll send the documents to your datapad. I’m surprised General Organa hasn’t done so already. Or Skywalker. He’s your father for the Force’s sake. He should tell you these things.” 

      Rey smiled. It was good to have friends like Jessika. 

  
\--------------

  
      It took two and a half weeks for the Resistance to be able to spare them both from their duties in order to take off an undefined amount of time for Rey to build her lightsaber. It took a few more days for them to hike into the mountains, letting the Force guide her to find a spot to build the saber. It was the beginning of summer in their hemisphere, so the temperatures were pleasantly moderate. They hiked during the day, talking about the Force and the Jedi of the Old Republic, and spent the nights around a campfire where her father told her stories about the places he’d gone to find this information about the Jedi. On the fourth day of hiking, Rey was shaken out of her conversation by a disturbance in the Force. Not a bad disturbance per se, just rather jarring, and pointing her in a particular direction. Her father felt it too and abruptly stopped talking. He motioned for her to lead the way and she took off, following the Force. 

      They hadn’t been following a trail before, but they’d been sticking to paths that didn’t lead them through too much greenery that had to be beaten back to walk though. The Force wasn’t leading her on that route though, it was leading her straight through a very thick mess of fallen trees and stumps. 

      “There was a fire here.” Her father said. “Could have been caused by a lightning strike. And look,” he crouched down and brushed away some of the dead branches and sooty soil. A small green sapling was sticking defiantly out of the grey and brown surroundings. He smiled up at her. “Sometimes the Force works in funny ways. Life though destruction. There’s a metaphor about our family in here somewhere.” 

      Rey appreciated the thought, but she was almost dancing in place with the nervous need to follow where the Force was leading her. Luke laughed. “Alright, go. I’ll stop distracting you.” 

      She bolted forward, weaving and sliding over the maze of downed trees until suddenly the thicket stopped and she was looking out to a perfect green meadow. There was a large smooth boulder in the center that was covered in carvings. The call in the Force was coming from that boulder and Rey quickly crossed over to it. The carvings were old, and worn smooth at the edges. Among other things, some of them looked suspiciously like various species of sentients holding lightsabers. 

      Her father approached from behind her and laid a hand on the rock, tracing one of the carvings with his fingers. 

      “Huh. I didn’t know there were Jedi here.” He looked to Rey. “Is this the place?” 

      She nodded, crawled up the side of the boulder, and got to work. 

  


      Night came. Then dawn. Her father had built a fire and tried to get her to come down and eat but she hadn’t wanted to. 

      She’d studied schematics of lightsabers in Artoo’s databank and drawn up a design that had a longer hilt with very little blade, reminiscent of her quarterstaff. She’d had to scrap that design after learning that the hilt material that could stand up to blows from another lightsaber described in Artoo’s databank wasn’t accessible to the Resistance. Disgruntled, she’d drawn up a new more traditional design since she didn’t want to have her cousin slice right through the staff part of her weapon the next time they met. She planned to incapacitate him, and then- well, she wasn’t sure if he was redeemable, but she wasn’t going to let him hurt anyone else, she knew that much. 

      Back at the Resistance Base, she had watched her father take apart and reassemble his, but building her own from scratch was completely different. Everything had to be perfect, and sometimes a piece that she’d had in the design didn’t feel right when she put it into place in the saber. 

      The sun was sinking in the sky again, and she could sense that her father was getting worried about her. He didn’t need to be. She was nearly finished. 

      She locked the last piece into place just as the first stars were appearing in the sky. She watched it hover for a moment, turning it over with the Force before reaching out and plucking it from the air. It felt right in her hands. She turned it on, and an emerald blade shot forth. She’d never seen anything so beautiful in her life. She stared at it for another moment, before switching it off and sliding down the boulder. 

      Her father was there waiting, and she held the hilt out to him for inspection. 

      “Haven’t we done this once before?” He asked. 

      She laughed. 

      Luke turned the saber over in his hands, looking at both the exterior metal that she’d molded into place and reaching out to sense the inner workings of the saber as well. 

      “It’s beautiful. A sturdy design too. It suits you.” 

      Rey beamed as he handed it back to her. 

      “I’ll comm back to the base and let them know we’ll start heading back tomorrow. You go get by the fire. You must be freezing. And eat something too. I left dinner for you.” 

      She started to turn away but he grabbed her hand. 

      “Wait, Rey.” 

      She turned back to him. 

      “I’m so proud of you.” 

      He pulled her into a hug, and she hugged him back tightly. Their bond though the Force flooded love and warmth between them. 

      Her family might be weird and obnoxiously tied to the fate of the galaxy, but she was happy and wouldn’t trade it for anything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, please leave a comment if you enjoyed the chapter. Feedback makes me want to write more.
> 
> I'm planning to get a fifth and final chapter out before TLJ. That one will bring us back full circle to Luke's perspective.
> 
> Special thanks to "spaceacejedi" as they go by on Tumblr for being my beta for this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is structured a bit differently in that it is pretty much concurrent with the previous chapter, but from Luke's perspective.

      Getting Rey back hadn’t cured his depression, but it had given him something he hadn’t had in a long time. Hope. She was something to live for, something to fight for. Having her around made him think about the possibility of a future, one that he wanted to be a part of. That was new. In the many years he’d spent alone he hadn’t had any positive view of the future. Rey had shaken him out of that. 

      He’d missed the majority of her childhood. He wanted to make up for lost time. He wanted to repair the damage to the galaxy so that they could all enjoy the peace he had imagined when he had made the decision to have her. 

      His heart was so full of love for her. On the island he had watched her working on the Falcon with Chewbacca and Artoo, the three of them laughing and joking with each other while they worked on the old ship. She was so full of warmth and happiness, and it was infectious to anyone she was around. She’d been patient yet persistent with him, and she’d helped him weather out bad days. She was hungry to learn more about the Force, and in teaching her he found distraction from what had been relentless anxiety and regret. She was a bright presence and kept him steady when he started to falter. He had to do better. She needed him to. He knew she had been desperate to get back to the Resistance, she’d told him about how her friend Finn had brutally injured by Ben, and somehow her need was enough to get him to push through and return to the rest of the galaxy. 

      He’d been anxious about reuniting with his sister. He still blamed himself for Ben’s fall. He wouldn’t blame Leia for blaming him too. Seeing her at the bottom of the landing pad though had made that worry melt away, at least temporarily. It had been far too long since they’d seen each other. He could feel in the Force that her joy at seeing him again was genuine, and their sibling bond in the Force flared back into life after being dormant for so long. He regretted having ever left. 

      Leia was firm that she didn’t blame him for the loss of her son. Luke still felt guilty. Especially when he noticed Leia watching him with Rey, and he knew she was longing to be with her own child. He hoped that Ben wasn’t beyond redemption. He couldn’t be. Anakin had been able to return to the light, Ben could too. 

      Nothing could bring Han back though. Knowing that he had been sulking on an island while Han Solo confronted his son and died trying to bring him home hurt. At the very least he wished he could have been with Leia when it happened. He hadn’t though. He’d told himself he needed to stop agonizing over “what ifs.” Well, you can lead a Jedi to wisdom but you can’t make him drink. 

      Luke was incredibly grateful that Rey had been able to see her uncle again. Luke had confirmed with Leia that Han had guessed correctly that the sandy, wide eyed kid he’d picked up who happened to be named Rey was in fact his niece fourteen years older than the last time he’d seen her. Rey had told Luke of her adventures with Han leading up to their trip to Starkiller base, and Luke was happy that she’d had more time with Han even if he couldn’t. 

      Now on the Resistance base Luke watched Rey move through the crowds, amicable with nearly everyone, and close to a handful of people. She was happy, and that made him happy. 

      She was closest to Finn. Finn had a heart of gold. He’d been through so much, and come out of it gentle and kind. He was incredibly loyal to both Rey, and to the Resistance as a whole. Luke was glad that the budding romance between Finn and Poe that they were bumbling their way through as young people did had not put a strain on Rey’s relationship with Finn. Both Finn and Poe still had time for her, for which Luke was incredibly thankful. Finn and Poe’s relationship was nothing like Leia and Han’s had been. For starters neither of the two young men flirted by yelling like Leia did, but the way their trio worked smoothly without Rey becoming a third wheel was much like how he had always felt welcome and comfortable around Han and Leia. 

      Poe was a good man, so much like both of his parents. He was glad Rey had him as a friend. Poe was good grounding for both Rey and Finn. Luke knew that while Poe was primarily helping Finn adjust to the differences in life out in the galaxy away from the First Order, he was also a good dose of normalcy in Rey’s abnormal life as well. 

      Rey’s third closest friend, Jessika, was feisty and had proved ready to fight anyone on behalf of her friends. She’d originally been a little awkward around Luke because like many of the Resistance pilots she venerated the Rebellion’s pilots who had come before her. That had changed when she’d confronted him about not properly educating Rey on her rights as a clone. If this is how she defended her friends to someone she saw as a hero, he pitied any First Order ships that got between her and her loved ones. 

      Rey had a handful of other friends amongst the pilots as she had inherited his love of flying. So far Poe had been teaching both her and Finn how to fly, but Luke knew Jessika had been dropping hints that she’d like to get him into a cockpit as well. He wanted too, but not as a spectacle as he was sure it would become. He hadn’t flown in years, and part of him was afraid of how rusty he was. No, he needed to practice a little first before showing these kids how it was done. The idea of flying made him feel more like his old self again. 

  
\--------------

  


      The rumor mill was swirling on who Rey’s mother must be. He found it rather amusing to be honest. It was her birthday soon, and he knew that was probably going to bring all of this to a front. He’d stopped caring about what other people thought of him on that matter, but he could tell Rey wasn’t doing well under the spotlight. He didn’t want to make that worse. 

      He had decided that he should give her the chance to build her own lightsaber. Among other things, her current saber didn’t have the best track record for keeping both of your hands, and he honestly didn’t know how old it was, or how long lightsabers could safely function. He wanted her to have the chance to gain the experience and confidence that came with building her own as well. They wouldn’t be able to go on a proper expedition for a crystal. There wasn’t time, and the few remaining sources of Kyber he’d found in the Jedi archives were all well known enough that the First Order was probably watching them. 

      He had one crystal that he’d found while exploring the ancient temple on Ach-To. It had called to him. He hoped it would work for Rey. 

      Luke had decided to take the opportunity of her birthday to return Rey’s pilot doll to her as well. When Rey was a toddler Wedge had been gleeful when presenting it to him along with the rest of Rogue Squadron, and Rey had taken to it instantly. That doll had rarely left her side, and when he thought he’d lost her he’d taken it with him. He’d kept meaning to give it back to her, but never really had the right words to go with it. Her birthday was a good opportunity. 

      He was feeling nostalgic about all of this. Twenty years ago he’d felt pretty invincible to the galaxy. He had imagined his child growing up in the new Jedi Order he’d created, safe and confident to take on the galaxy. He’d wanted to take her so many places that he’d never gotten to see in his youth. Leia had helped him with research on both their mother and father, and Luke couldn’t wait to show his daughter the beauty of Naboo architecture, and the quiet majesty of a Tatooinian twin sunset. There was so much of the galaxy that he’d planned to show her. There was so many things that he’d wanted to help make right in the galaxy with her and his students at his side. That was all gone now, and instead they were in another full scale war. 

      Leia had been apparently feeling nostalgic as well and had sent him some of Rey’s baby holos she had kept in her personal databank. They were bittersweet. While Rey was back with him, many of the holos also showed the faces of his students, long dead now. There was one in particular that was a candid that his student, Cella, had taken of him when he’d fallen asleep while reading on one of the couches in a common area with Rey asleep on his chest. Rey had been so small. Cella had looked small to him too when he found her dead after Ben’s attack on his Academy. 

      Death was one thing he couldn’t fix. He frequently debated with himself whether if once this was all over he should formally start teaching another group of Jedi, or if he should figure out some other method. He had a lot of doubts about his abilities after having lost Ben. Leia still firmly insisted that Snoke was to blame for that, and he tried to convince himself that was true. 

      Rey’s training was going well at least. She was proof that there was a future for the Jedi. 

  
\--------------

  


      Rey was nearly dancing with excitement as the two of them left on their expedition for her to build her lightsaber. Luke realized that the two of them needed to go off together like this more often. He hadn’t fully been himself on the island, so that didn’t count. He thought again of his desire to take her to Tatooine, Naboo, Yavin, and all of the other beautiful places in the galaxy once this war was over. Leia had been gently chiding him about the level to which he doted on his nearly fully grown daughter, but blast it, he was making up for lost time. 

      They took a speeder bike into the foothills then began to ascend the mountain on foot. Luke was discovering that while he’d hiked around the island on Ach-To, he wasn’t as young as he used to be. Rey flitted around him like an excited bird poking at the flora and occasionally fauna of the forest while they made their way up into the mountains. Like he was at that age, she had trouble with focusing on the 'here and now' as Yoda liked to say. Luke shifted the conversation to the history of the Jedi hoping that it would put her into a better mindset for what she was about to do. 

      The nights were warm enough that a campfire was more for ambiance than necessity. Looking across the crackling flames at his amazing daughter Luke was struck by how incredibly lucky he was to have her. After everything that had happened to her she was optimistic, compassionate, and full of the light. His Rey. His miracle. Rey sensed him staring at her and looked up from her dinner. 

      “What?” 

      Luke felt himself smiling. “I’m just so proud of you. I’m grateful the Force brought us back together.” 

      “Thanks dad.” 

      Sometimes exchanges like this were hard. They’d spent a lot of time apart and sometimes it was difficult to really put these things into words. Their bond in the Force made things easier. Sometimes just sharing an emotion over that was easier than finding the right words for it. There was something ironic about that, because when Rey had been first learning to talk he’d had a hard time convincing her to actually use words when she greatly preferred simply poking at him with the Force instead. Some nineteen years later, what had once been a parenting headache was now something he was happy to just go with. 

      Luke continued to watch Rey across the fire. She’d gone back to being absorbed with her food, but Luke gave himself a moment to just soak in the serenity of this moment. The galaxy was at war again, a war that he and his daughter would be drawn into again very soon. It made moments like this all the more precious. He didn’t know what the future would bring them. He hoped that his family would all make it through this war, but he knew the chances of that were slim. They’d already lost Han. There would most likely be more losses before the war was over. The Jedi of old probably wouldn’t approve of it, but he clung to moments like this. The night was beautiful, and his daughter was safe and about to complete an important step on her path to becoming a Jedi. Luke was at peace. 

  
\--------------

  


      The following day was when the Force really called to Rey and she took off, a woman on a mission to where the Force was calling her. He tried to keep up with her and eventually told her to go on ahead since he could feel her nervous need to follow where she was being led. He didn’t fall too far behind, and was amazed that she had found what must have been a sacred site to the Jedi of old. 

      He watched her work, silently cheering her on as she fiddled and got frustrated with trying to make everything just perfect. He knew she was fully into the task at hand when she declined his offer to come down to have something to eat. Since they had reunited on Ach-To Rey had never refused food when it was offered to her. Luke took this as a sign that he needed to not be so much of a mother bantha at this moment and let her do her thing. 

      Night was falling, and the temperature was dropping more quickly than it had in previous nights. Stars were beginning to come out when he felt a shift in the Force as the final pieces of the lightsaber clicked into place. Rey slid off the boulder beaming. She held out the hilt to him and Luke was struck by how similar, and yet completely different this scenario was to how it had been some months ago on Ach-To. His heart swelled with pride in his daughter as he took the hilt from her and turned it over in his hands. It was incredibly sturdy, but also beautiful. Just like his daughter. Reaching out with the Force he checked the inner circuitry and found it to be sound. The crystal was in perfect harmony with the rest of the saber. Luke couldn’t have been happier as he handed her lightsaber back. Parental instincts that had been placated while she was constructing the blade could no longer be pushed aside and he allowed himself to let the mother bantha come back out and tell her to go warm up by the fire and have dinner. Grinning, she started to turn away. 

      But- 

      “Wait, Rey.” 

      She stopped and turned back to him. 

      There really weren’t words to express to her what he’d been trying to say the last time around the campfire. He tried anyway, and then pulled her into a hug. She was nearly as tall as he was, he desperately wished he had been able to watch her grow, but just as fiercely he thanked the Force that she was with him now. His Rey. His miracle. He opened himself fully to the Force and let that pass between them so he could convey his love for her even as words failed him. He was so lucky to have her. Even with everything that had happened, he truly felt that the Force had blessed him. He had found peace, and so much happiness. No matter what the future held, the Force was with them both, and he would always be with Rey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this fic after two years everyone! I have more fics planned in the future, and they will probably be coming out at a faster rate since I'm now out of college and have a job that does not require out of hours work.
> 
> I am still considering writing out my idea of 'Snoke cloned Rey off of Luke's severed hand to replace Kylo.' That would require actual plot rather than just the pile of ace colored cotton candy fluff that this is though. I'm sketching that out to decide if I have enough to make a longer fic for it.
> 
> Thanks again to "spaceacejedi" for betaing this!

**Author's Note:**

> I've been playing around with the idea that since Luke's old saber was found, his hand probably was as well. I think it'd be an interesting twist if Rey was created off of the DNA in his severed hand, probably for some nefarious purpose involving the Sith since this is Star Wars. I’m thinking it’s possible that Snoke created her out of Luke’s hand for the purpose of corrupting her to be a more powerful replacement for Kylo Ren.
> 
> I didn’t feel like writing something that complicated though, so I took the bone marrow baby idea and went with single parent aro/ace!Luke cuteness instead. I might continue this fic, and/or write a fic with my idea involving Snoke if there is interest.


End file.
